Sardinian Army

The Sardinian Army was the armed forces of the Kingdom of Sardinia, founded in 1720.

History
The Sardinian army was founded in 1720 when the Kingdom of Sardinia was linked with Savoy after Savoy acquired the island from the Austrian Empire in a trade for Sicily. The Sardinian army fought for the first time in the French Revolutionary Wars' Italian Campaign, when Napoleon Bonaparte of France invaded Sardinia, an ally of their Austrian enemies. The Sardinian army, led by Michele Colli, was defeated at Cuneo and Turin and Sardinia was forced to become a protectorate of France, aiding them in their war with Austria.

They fought again in the Italian Wars of Unification from 1848 to 1860, during which they fought against Austria as an ally of France. Sardinia sought to acquire more lands from Austria in northern Italy, and their armies were led mainly by foreign generals. They were defeated many times in 1848 and crushed by the Austrians, but in 1859-1860 they were able to reclaim their lands with help from France and they took over all of northern Italy except for Venice. In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi and his "Redshirts" captured southern Italy from the Kingdom of Naples and Kingdom of Sicily, and the Sardinians became the Italian Army when the unification of Italy was declared.